BELGIUM 



665 



BELGIUM 



windmill near Brussels 



befallen a nation. And just as 

 we value the portrait of a man 

 or woman taken at some crit- 

 ical period of life, so it would 

 be of special interest to have 

 the picture of this nation on the 

 eve of the greatest crisis in its 

 existence. 



Location. Belgium, together 

 with Holland, lies across the 

 central plain of Europe near its 

 narrowest point. It has a sea 

 coast on the North Sea of 

 forty-two miles, and the land 

 frontiers measure 793 miles. 

 Of this distance 384 miles lie 

 on the border of France, 269 

 miles join Holland, eighty miles 

 border the grand duchy of Lux- 

 emburg, and sixty miles adjoin 

 Germany. Geographical situa- 

 tion has shaped the character 

 and destiny of the people of 

 Belgium more than those of 

 any other people in the world. 

 For trade purposes it forms the 

 natural meeting ground of the 

 nations of Western Europe, but, 

 unfortunately, on account of 

 its position, it has been again 

 and again their battle ground. 

 Belgium has been called "the 



